Nostalgia & History > A Couple of Questions for Wobbly Fans

This Canyon Caboose photo contained no data on the reverse. Does anyone recognize the location and have a possible date for the photo? Also, how many Canyon caboose/cabeese were constructed?

Thanks,
Jack

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Jack,

There were 12 cars in this series that were nicknamed "Canyon Cabooses". They were numbered 605 to 616, built in 1937 from PS 15001-16000 series composite box cars. They were the very earliest series of composite caboose conversions on the WP. There is one known surviving car from this series, WP 614 at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola.

The photo looks like Portola, but it could be somewhere near by like Blairsden or Loyalton. But I'd guess Portola based on the sliver of background scenery shown in the image. As far as the date, hard to tell. It still has arch bar trucks, placing it some time before 1950 when these cars received Andrews trucks beginning in September of that year. Could be any time between 1937 and 1950. If you can make a big scan and zoom in on the lube stencil, that might narrow down the date a little.

Cheers!

Mike
http://www.wpcaboosebook.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/11 20:57 by trainjunkie.

africansteam Wrote:
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> This Canyon Caboose photo contained no data on the
> reverse. Does anyone recognize the location and
> have a possible date for the photo? Also, how many
> Canyon caboose/cabeese were constructed?
>
> Thanks,
> Jack

Jack,

The WP built both cupola and bay window cabeese from outside braced boxcars in batches starting at 605 and going up to 700 I believe.

As for location. Based on what background there is I'd think either Portola or Westwood.

As for date. Could be almost anytime in the thirty's forty's or fifty's.

J.

Pretty light rail under that thing

Why "Canyon Caboose"?

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

Let me guess!!

Worked the Feather River Canyon from Oroville to Porola, CA/

--Jim Baker

john1082 Wrote:
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> Why "Canyon Caboose"?

As you can see in the photo above, the car body ends are inset from the edge of the car body sides making a small recessed area on each end platform that offered some protection from the weather for trainmen standing out on the platform. Only this first series of cars were built this way. All subsequent series, and all the bay window conversions, were built with the ends all the way out at the ends of the car body sides, eliminating the inset area.

Legend has it that the cars with the inset ends were preferred by crewmen working in the Feather River Canyon, where the weather could get pretty harsh, so these particular cars with the inset ends were nicknamed "Canyon Cabooses".

Mike
http://www.wpcaboosebook.com